Margaret
|death_date = |origin = Stargard Szczeciński, Poland |instrument = Vocals |genre = Pop |occupation = Singer, Songwriter |years_active = 2006–present |label = Extensive, Magic, Warner |associated_acts = |website = |current_members = |past_members = }} Małgorzata Jamroży (Polish pronunciation: jamˈrɔʐɨ; born 30 June 1991), known professionally as Margaret, is a Polish singer and songwriter. Before her mainstream debut, she performed with underground bands, recorded soundtracks for television commercials and produced a fashion blog. Through her blogging, she was discovered by music manager Sławomir Berdowski and signed by her record label, Extensive Music. Margaret gained international recognition with her singles "Thank You Very Much" (2013) and "Cool Me Down" (2016). Margaret's 2013 debut single, "Thank You Very Much", was included on her first extended play (EP) All I Need. The song was a commercial success in Poland and charted in several other European countries. Her debut studio album Add the Blonde was released in 2014 and reached the top 10 in the Polish charts. Three tracks from the album—"Wasted", "Start a Fire" and "Heartbeat"—were released as singles. The album's 2016 re-release includes Margaret's first Polish top five single, "Cool Me Down", which also marked her first appearance on the Swedish charts where she later had further success. In 2015, she recorded a collaborative jazz album with Matt Dusk titled Just the Two of Us. Her third studio album, Monkey Business (2017), became her second top 10 album in Poland and spawned the singles "What You Do" and "Byle jak". She followed it with a series of non-album singles for the international market including "In My Cabana" (2018) and "Tempo" (2019), before releasing her first Polish-language album Gaja Hornby (2019). Margaret has received numerous accolades, including five Eska Music Awards, a Kids' Choice Award and three MTV Europe Music Awards for Best Polish Act—more than any other artist in this category. She was included on a 2014 list of the 100 most-valuable stars of Polish show business compiled by the Polish edition of Forbes. In 2015, the Polish magazine Wprost named her one of the 50 most-influential Polish celebrities. Alongside her music career, Margaret has endorsed numerous products, designed a clothing line for fashion retailer Sinsay in 2015 and voiced Smurfstorm in the Polish-language version of Smurfs: The Lost Village in 2017. She also served as a coach on The Voice of Poland in 2019. Life and career Early life and education Małgorzata Jamroży was born on 30 June 1991 in Stargard Szczeciński, Poland, to teachers Ryszard and Elżbieta Jamroży. She has an older brother named Tomasz, with whom she grew up in Ińsko. Jamroży was raised Catholic. She took Julita as her confirmation name. In a 2019 interview with Playboy Poland magazine, she criticised Catholic church for its sexual ethics and said she wants to commit apostasy. She later explained she made the decision as she does not believe in God and said it only feels right to leave the group she no longer feels part of. As a child, Jamroży participated in many singing contests. She attended the Ińsko school complex—a primary school and gymnasium— and initially studied clarinet before changing to saxophone at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski first degree State Music School in Choszczno. Shortly after finishing music school, her nasal septum was damaged in a bicycle accident; this temporarily prevented her from playing an instrument. She also studied singing at the Jazz Academy in Katowice, and took private singing lessons from vocal coach Elżbieta Zapendowska. At age 16, Jamroży moved to Szczecin, where she graduated from Liceum ogólnokształcące 14. At this time, she adopted the stage name Margaret, the English-language equivalent of Małgorzata. At 18, Margaret moved to Warsaw, where as of June 2016 she lived in a Śródmieście apartment. She began an English studies degree at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw but left after three semesters. She earned a degree in fashion design from the International School of Costume and Fashion Design in Warsaw in 2015. 2006–2012: Career beginnings In 2006, Margaret appeared on the Polish television talent show Szansa na sukces ("A Chance for Success") singing Stenia Kozłowska's song "Będę czekać" ("I'll Be Waiting"). She returned to the programme in 2009 and won an episode by performing "Znam Cię na pamięć" ("I Know You by Heart"), which was originally sung by Monika Brodka. She took part in the show's 2009 final at the Congress Hall in Warsaw.18 In lyceum (college), she performed in a rock band, and in the band oNieboLepiej ("Much Better"), with whom she sang poetry. In 2010, Margaret appeared in the musical Rent at the Szczecin Opera in the Castle. That year, she co-founded Margaret J. Project, a six-piece electropop band with R&B and hip hop influences that she formed with music producer and bassist Adam Kabaciński. They qualified for the semi-finals of the 2010 Coke Live Fresh Noise competition. The group disbanded in November 2012; their studio album This Is Margaret was released online in 2013. In 2011, Margaret produced a fashion blog that incorporated videos of her singing. Her blogging activity waned as her music career progressed. Early in her career, Margaret recorded soundtracks for Polish television commercials, including "Moments" and "It Will Be Lovely Day", which received radio airplay. According to Polish music manager Maja Sablewska, Margaret was not well-known but her voice was "ubiquitous". She also provided vocals for the 2012 biopic Bokser ("Boxer") and the 2012 documentary film Beauty and the Breast. 2012–2013: Breakthrough with "Thank You Very Much" While Margaret was blogging, she was approached by her future manager Sławomir Berdowski, who became interested in working with her after hearing her recording of Adele's song "Right as Rain". Berdowski arranged for Margaret to work with music producers Thomas Karlsson, Joakim Buddee and Ant Whiting, who wrote her debut single "Thank You Very Much". Shortly after recording the song, Margaret was signed by the Swedish record label Extensive Music. The label signed a licensing deal with Universal Music Poland's Magic Records, which releases Margaret's music in Poland. In May 2012, "Thank You Very Much" was released to radio stations in Poland and Margaret performed it at the 2012 TOPtrendy Festival at Sopot's Forest Opera amphitheatre. Shortly thereafter, her management decided to withdraw the song from radio stations and designed a promotional plan before re-releasing it. "Thank You Very Much" and its music video were released for digital download in February 2013 and immediately sold well in Poland. The song won an award as the third-best-selling digital single of 2013 in Poland by a Polish artist. Margaret worked with director Chris Piliero on the song's music video, in which she is surrounded by 30 nude extras.34 The video was removed by YouTube for violating the website's policy against nudity and sexual content; it was later restored with age restrictions. Following this, Margaret expressed her support of the right to nudity under the slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and criticised YouTube for censorship. The video received substantial media coverage, contributing to the international success of "Thank You Very Much". A year after its release, the music video appeared on the website 9GAG, increasing its YouTube traffic to more than 500,000 views in 24 hours. In June 2013, Margaret travelled to Germany to promote "Thank You Very Much" with a live performance on ZDF Fernsehgarten ("ZDF Television Garden"). After her appearance on the show, the single peaked at number 38 in Austria and at number 41 in Germany. Margaret's second single "Tell Me How Are Ya" was released in July 2013 on her first extended play (EP) All I Need, which reached number 50 on the Polish albums chart. She represented Poland at the July 2013 Baltic Song Contest in Sweden, in which she sang "Thank You Very Much" and an EP cut "I Get Along", and finished second out of ten competitors. Margaret was nominated in several categories at the 2013 Eska Music Awards, including Best Female Artist, Best Debut, Best Hit and Best Music Video (both for "Thank You Very Much"), and won the latter. She was also nominated for Best Polish Act at the 2013 MTV Europe Music Awards. In December 2013, Margaret embarked on a promotional tour in Italy, where "Thank You Very Much" peaked at number 22 on Italy's official singles chart. 2014–2016: Add the Blonde, Just the Two of Us and "Cool Me Down" In December 2013, Margaret premiered "Wasted" with a live performance of the song at the Sylwestrowa Moc Przebojów ("New Year's Eve Power of Hits") concert in Gdynia, Poland. The song was released in January 2014 as the lead single from her first studio album Add the Blonde and reached number six in Poland. In February, Margaret became a spokesperson for Play, a Polish telecoms provider. Add the Blonde was released in August 2014. It is a pop record that was influenced by retro-disco and ska, and by the work of Madonna. The album reached number eight in Poland and was certified platinum by the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (ZPAV). The same month, Margaret released "Start a Fire", which was the official song of the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship in Poland. She performed it at the tournament's opening ceremony. The song also became the second single from Add the Blonde and peaked at number 10 in Poland. Around this time, she recorded a cover of Katarzyna Sobczyk's song "O mnie się nie martw" ("Don't You Worry About Me"), which was used as the theme song of the Polish television series of the same name. Margaret was featured on a 2014 Christmas charity album called Siemacha po kolędzie ("Siemacha After Carolling"), which was recorded in support of the Siemacha Association; its follow-up Gwiazdy po kolędzie ("Stars After Carolling") includes two songs recorded by Margaret and was released in 2015. The third single from Add the Blonde, "Heartbeat", was released in February 2015 and charted at number 11 in Poland. In April 2015, Margaret co-headlined the Top Music Wembley festival at Wembley Arena in London. In August, she won two Eska Music Awards for Best Female Artist and Best Artist on the Internet. She became the co-host of the musical television show Retromania, which began airing on TVP1 in September 2015. The show was cancelled after two months. Also in September, a clothing line Margaret designed for fashion retailer Sinsay was released under the name "Margaret for Sinsay". At the 2015 MTV Europe Music Awards, she won the award for Best Polish Act and was nominated for Worldwide Act: Europe. In November that year, she released her second studio album Just the Two of Us, a collaboration with Canadian jazz singer Matt Dusk. The album consists of interpretations of jazz standards. To prepare for its recording, Margaret listened to recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, whom she has cited as an influence. Margaret said she made a jazz record to fulfil her dream and that she has no plans to give up her pop career. Just the Two of Us was promoted with two singles, the title track and "'Deed I Do". The album reached number 28 in Poland and received a platinum certification from ZPAV. Margaret also appeared in two Polish Coca-Cola advertising campaigns, performing covers of two songs including the Polish-language version of "Wonderful Dream (Holidays are Coming)" titled "Coraz bliżej święta" which charted at number 32 in Poland. She was also featured in Deichmann's Polish advertising campaign and by March 2018 had appeared in five more commercials. February 2016, Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) announced that Margaret would compete in Krajowe Eliminacje 2016 ("National Eliminations 2016"), Poland's national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, with the song "Cool Me Down". Margaret quickly became bookmakers' and Eurovision fans' favourite to win both the national final and the Eurovision Song Contest but in the final of Krajowe Eliminacje in March she finished in second place. Margaret later said; "That was a lot of pressure and it was a big lesson for me. I don't feel that music and artists should be ranked in any way. It's not like in sport. Someone will get to the end faster, or jump higher. You can't compare music. You just like it or not." Margaret also said she has no intention of returning to the contest. Ellie Chalkley of ESC Insight analysed the song's impact on the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017; she described it as "real, tangible, and long lasting" and wrote that "even without getting to the competition proper, 'Cool Me Down' might turn out to be one of the most influential Eurovision songs in recent years". She added; "it exists at a pop-cultural tipping point and the ways in which Margaret's stomper succeeded and failed could affect the sound of the contest for years to come". "Cool Me Down" reached number four in Poland, becoming Margaret's first Polish top-five single and was certified double platinum by ZPAV. In March 2016, Margaret won the Kids' Choice Award for Favourite Polish Star. The following month, she signed a deal with Warner Music Group and released "Cool Me Down" worldwide. It charted in numerous countries, including Romania, where it reached number 22 and Sweden, where it peaked at number 36, receiving a gold certification from the Swedish Recording Industry Association (GLF). To promote the single in Sweden, Margaret played shows during July and August 2016, including televised performances on Sommarkrysset ("Summercross"), Lotta på Liseberg ("Lotta at Liseberg") and during Rockbjörnen ("The Rock Bear") Awards 2016 ceremony. At the 2016 Eska Music Awards, Margaret premiered "Elephant" and won her second consecutive award for Best Artist on the Internet. "Elephant" was released as a single in August that year and charted at number 21 in Poland. Margaret won her second consecutive MTV Europe Music Award for Best Polish Act in November. Both "Cool Me Down" and "Elephant" were included on the December 2016 reissue of Add the Blonde. 2017–present: Monkey Business, Melodifestivalen, Gaja Hornby and The Voice of Poland Whilst working on her third studio album Monkey Business, Margaret voiced Smurfstorm in the Polish-language version of the 2017 animated feature film Smurfs: The Lost Village. To promote the film, she recorded the song "Blue Vibes", which was released in March 2017. In April 2017, she signed an advertising deal with the nail products brand Semilac in Poland. Monkey Business was released in June 2017 and peaked at number eight in Poland. Margaret described the album as "versatile" and said she had more artistic control over its production than with her debut album; she was in charge whereas with Add the Blonde, she received and acted on advice from her producers. Monkey Business was preceded by the single "What You Do", which was released in May and reached number 14 on Poland's singles chart. Margaret's collaboration with the Swedish group VAX, titled "6 in the Morning", was also released in May. She won her third consecutive Eska Music Award for Best Artist on the Internet in June 2017. In September that year, she received the TVP1 Special Award at the 2017 National Festival of Polish Song. Monkey Business's cuts "Nie chce" ("I Don't Want To") and "Byle jak" ("Anyhow")—which are considered to be the first two original Polish-language songs of her career—were the inspiration for a short film called Nie chce / Byle jak, which stars Margaret; it was released in November and serves as a music video for the songs. "Byle jak" was released as a single the following month and reached number six in Poland. It received an Audience Award nomination for Song of the Year at the 2019 Fryderyk awards. In November 2017, Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) announced that Margaret would take part in the 2018 edition of Melodifestivalen, a competition to select Sweden's entry for Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "In My Cabana". Margaret became the first Polish artist to compete in Melodifestivalen; she said she was invited to take part in the contest by the show's producer Christer Björkman, who spotted her on Swedish television; Björkman later referred to her as "incredibly starlike". Margaret also said she decided to participate in the contest because she wanted to promote her music in Sweden and present herself to a broad Swedish audience. She added that in her opinion, a Swedish artist should represent Sweden at Eurovision. Margaret performed in the second semi-final on 10 February 2018 and advanced to the Andra chansen ("Second chance") round. She qualified for the final after winning her Andra chansen duel against Moncho, and finished in seventh place with 103 points. "In My Cabana" was released on the day of her semi-final performance; it charted at number three in Poland and at number eight in Sweden. Following her participation in Melodifestivalen, Margaret appeared in a promotional campaign for new line of a non-alcoholic beer called Warka Radler, which was launched in April 2018. That August, she supported Europride by releasing a single titled "Lollipop", which served as Warner Music Sweden's anthem for the event. Margaret commented on her involvement in the project; "I have always supported love initiatives and love of all kinds. Love is Love." In November, she received her third MTV Europe Music Award for Best Polish Act, becoming the most-awarded artist in this category. During this time, Margaret confirmed her relationship with Polish musician Piotr "Kacezet" Kozieradzki, and the following May, she announced their engagement. Margaret featured on Kacezet's single "Błogość" ("Blissfulness"), which was released in January 2019. She returned to Melodifestivalen in February 2019 with the song "Tempo", finished fifth in the second semi-final and was eliminated from the competition. "Tempo" charted in Poland at number seven and in Sweden at number 43.Margaret also made a cameo appearance as Gaja Hornby in the 2019 Polish romantic comedy Całe szczęście ("Their Lucky Stars") and recorded a song of the same name for its soundtrack. Discography Studio Albums * Add the Blonde (2014) * Just the Two of Us (2015) * Monkey Business (2017) * Gaja Hornby (2019) EPs * All I Need (2013) Singles * "Thank You Very Much" (2013) * "Tell Me How Are Ya" (2013) * "Wasted" (2014) * "Start a Fire" (2014) * "Heartbeat" (2015) * "Just the Two of Us" (2015) * "'Deed I Do" (2015) * "Cool Me Down" (2016) * "Elephant" (2016) * "Blue Vibes" (2017) * "What You Do" (2017) * "Byle jak" (2017) * "In My Cabana" (2018) * "Lollipop" (2018) * "Tempo" (2019) * "Gaja Hornby" (2019) * "Serce Baila" (2019) * "Chwile bez słów" (2019) * "Ej chłopaku" (2019) Category:Artists Category:NVSC 19 artists Category:NVSC 8 artists